Leverage
by ElideStorms
Summary: Being a genius and a billionaire left Tony Stark with a giant neon target sign on him for most of his life. But after joining the Avengers, the sign seemed to have become visible to the more villainous populous of the universe. So when he wakes up blindfolded and in pain, he isn't too surprised. When the villain calls him leverage, Tony laughs. A/N: Mainly excuse for Tony!Whump
1. Chapter 1

Being a genius and a billionaire left Tony Stark with a giant neon target sign on him for most of his life. But after joining the Avengers, the sign seemed to have become visible to the more villainous populous of the universe. Tony Stark wasn't a super soldier, or a Norse God, or a giant green rage machine. Nor had he ever undergone the super secret spy-ninja training that the two other humans on the team had.

In fact, Tony Stark without his suit of armour, in relation to the Avengers, was a very. Normal. Guy.

So when he wakes up blindfolded with his arms crossed above his head in metal chains, shoulders long past sore from the strain, and a headache pounding his brain, he wasn't all that surprised.

"I think he's waking up…" A voice whispered, assumedly to another in the room.

"Well, remind me to give this place a bad review because… jesus, it _stinks_." Tony mocked. Though the effect might've been wasted because his throat was so dry and the words had barely been audible.

"Oh, he's awake." A far more confident voice said and Tony could just imagine the smirk on whatever villain it was that had him. It was only a moment later when the blindfold was ripped from his eyes and he was face to face with a very angular face and gelled back hair.

Tony blinked repeatedly, his eyes trying to adjust to the light of the room. It wasn't too much of an effort considering part of the room was only lit by a few bars of fluorescent lights on the ceiling, the rest of it was sealed in darkness. "Sweety, you've gotta lay back on the gel."

His remark was returned with a hard punch to the gut that had him swinging from his chains and sucking in air rapidly.

"Sweety," The man started, reusing the pet name hatefully, "You've got to learn to shut up. Especially if you want to find yourself in a more comfortable position." The man gestured to the chains holding Tony a foot off the ground.

Tony was keeled forward, his arms felt like they were on fire, but he found the strength to look up at the man and wink, "Gotcha."

"Drop him." The man said to somebody Tony couldn't see and the next thing he knew, the chains were dropped and he crashed onto the ground. "Fuck, be a little more gentle with me, princess." Tony hissed and coughed. He rolled his shoulders in circles and winced at the pain. And then cried out when a steel toed boot met his rib cage, his form immediately curling to protect himself from further blows

"I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET, STARK!" The man yelled, suddenly rage ebbing off him.

_'Great,' _Tony thought with a roll of his eyes, _'I've been captured by a crazy person. Fuck, I think he broke a rib…'_

"W…What do you want with me, fuckface?" Tony groaned, broken ribs meant trouble talking, but it wasn't going to stop him.

The man kneeled down next to Tony's balled up position on the floor, a manic grin spread on his face. _'Definitely crazy.'_

"You're leverage, Stark." The man patted Tony's cheek with ironic gentleness.

"On who?" Tony snorted, not thinking of anyone other than Pepper and Rhodey who would actually sacrifice something for him.

"SHIELD." The man said with a determined tone.

Tony actually laughed out loud at that, his rib throbbing and stopping him early with a gasp. "Not sure if you're crazy, stupid, or stupid and crazy, but SHIELD doesn't give a flying fuck about me."

"But your little Avenger pals do." The man sneered.

"You're hilarious, you know that, right? You ever try stand-up comedy? You'd be a real blast." Tony smirked. He knew the Avengers would save him if they had the chance because Iron Man was useful to the team, but Tony Stark held no leverage, Tony Stark was a liability.

The man stood up with a sigh. "I grow tired of you today, Tony." The man used the tip of his foot to nudge Tony's broken rib and elicited a muffled scream from the man as pain washed over him. "Be ready for the camera, _princess_, tomorrow is going to be a big day." The man walked out of the lit area while waving his hand upwards and Tony groaned internally as he figured out what it meant. His wrists slowly moved above his head, followed by his arms, and soon he was a foot off the ground once more, this time with a rib screaming at him with pain.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck." Tony moaned aloud, clearly expressing displeasure. He sighed and realized just how tired he was. The adrenaline that came with the first stab of pain was wearing off and his headache was making its way back. Maybe if he just rested for a bit…

* * *

**A/N: Not sure if I'm going to continue this… Should I? If you're interested in more, tell me in a review :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Tony?" Steve called as he walked down the hall towards the labs. Tony had skipped the meeting Nick Fury had called and the SHIELD director had been pissed. The meeting had been rescheduled for the next day where he, quote, "Expect that billionaire's stupid ass sitting in one of these chairs or else all you fuckheads are getting it."

Steve shuddered at the memory.

"Tony?" The super soldier asked, peeking into the workshop. Oddly enough, the door had been opened and JARVIS lacked his usual greeting upon seeing Steve enter the lab. Steve's brows furrowed and he took a step deeper into the room.

Papers were scattered and metal scraps lay on the floor, showing remnants of a struggle.

"J-JARVIS! What happened here?!" Steve gasped, searching for any sign of the eccentric hero.

"Master Stark was taken from his cot in the workshop at 3:07 AM today." JARVIS responded cleanly.

"WHAT?!" Steve yelled. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"Programming conflict. It appears as if they temporarily compromised my systems to make it so that I could not tell you off the incident." JARVIS answered and Steve thought the AI sounded slightly remorseful.

"Where is he? Do you know who took him?" Steve was worried. Tony had been the main target for many of their opponents. Steve felt responsible for him and it consistently caused a pain in his patriotic heart.

"I apologize, but that information seems to have been deleted from my database." JARVIS apologized. Steve frowned, whoever took Tony knew what they were doing and he didn't like it.

"Call Fury, tell him that Tony's been taken." Steve commanded, stepping into his Captain America persona. If somebody on his team was in danger, he was going to save them.

"It appears as if Director Fury is already aware of the situation. He is calling all Avengers to the boardroom as of this moment."

Steve paused, wondering how Fury knew already. Anger flashed through him as he thought that Fury had simply stood by as Tony was taken, it wasn't like the SHIELD director hadn't done it before. It was for the _sake of the mission_; the _greater good._ Steve was all for getting the job done but when one of his own was in danger, he didn't like it.

* * *

"Gooooooooood morning, Stark!" Tony heard a voice call him from his slumber right before he was roughly dropped back onto the floor. He muffled a cry as the broken rib shifted but he didn't want to give his captors the pleasure of hearing his pain. His shoulders felt like they were on fire and he was pretty sure no amount of physiotherapy would ever realign his back.

"Ah ha ha, yeah, I woke up on the good side of the _chain_." Tony grunted sarcastically, pinwheeling his arms. He winced as he moved, everything seemed to hurt and from his previous knowledge, things weren't going to get any better anytime soon. The next thing he new, a punch landed on his jaw, making him feel dizzy.

"Today is camera day and we can't have you looking so nice for the audience. So I thought I let a couple of my guys play with you for a bit." The man smiled and ruffled Tony's hair with mock affection. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know the man's name.

"What's you name?" Tony asked, quirking an eyebrow. He was always curiously, a beating looming over him or not.

The grip in his hair tightened and the man's jaw clenched. "Just call me V."

Tony hissed as his hair was pulled while noting the reaction and beginning to decipher what would warrant such a thing. A fake name could mean a few things:

a) V is trying to represent a movement by using a vague pseudonym instead of his name.

b) Tony still has a chance at being returned because he didn't use his real identity.

c) V has some sort of hatred of his identity.

d) V is crazy.

Tony had his bets on d but before he could come up with any more theories, a kicked to his gut jostled his rib and he couldn't stop his yell. Things didn't get better after that.

"Make sure he stays conscious for as long as possible. I want him to feel everything." Tony heard V say before the butt of a gun landed in between his shoulder blades.

_'Yeah. My back is going to be fucked forever.' _Tony thought as more hits came, each one drawing out a muffled scream. He counted about five men, pounding their fists into every piece of him they could see. His vision was getting blurry and he knew he was hurt pretty bad. He probably had a fractured cheekbone and definitely had a concussion. He added a few more ribs into the broken category, and one guy had decided to smash his hand with the heel of his foot. He had long since given up on holding in his cries, the pain too overwhelming to contain. As each shot landed, Tony remembered Afghanistan, he remembered every beating, and it made it all worse. Normally he could take a few hits but his bindings and the darkness were taking a large toll on his mentality. But this time it was worse, this time he couldn't lie and say that he would build it, that he would work faster so that the beatings wouldn't come so often. No, he was leverage. And fuck all because nobody was going to sacrifice anything for him, he didn't deserve it. As long as he was alive, he wasn't going to let anybody else lay down on the wire. Whatever V wanted, he wasn't going to get. Hell, Fury wouldn't hand it over to the guy even if his mother was at gunpoint, let alone Tony Stark. At least he was starting to lose feeling, his body going numb and the lull of unconsciousness beckoned him closer. Finally, as he felt a final crack as his nose broke and he absentmindedly promised to get that seen by a plastic surgeon, everything turned black.

* * *

"Rogers, good of you to finally make it." Fury was standing at the front of the table with his hands behind his back. A large screen was blank behind him and the rest of the Avengers sans Tony were sitting.

"What are you playing at, Fury?" Steve noticed that he seemed to be the only one who had a vague idea of the situation. Bruce was sitting in his chair quietly, Thor was doing the exact opposite. Clint and Natasha were looming in their own special way, conversing using only facial expressions.

"I assume you know of the situation, Rogers." Fury stated.

"I sure do, so why are we just sitting around when Tony is missing?" Steve was doing his best to keep his voice level but he was a hothead by nature.

"Tony's missing?" Bruce asked looking up.

"Probably just at a strip club or something." Clint waved it off and received an elbow to the gut by Natasha.

"Stark is probably just in his workshop." Natasha suggested.

"I already checked, the place is trashed." Steve answered, recalling the mess of the room that Tony spent so much time in. He wasn't going to be happy when he returned… _if _he returned.

"Ah, the man of iron is more than capable of caring for himself." Thor smiled optimistically. He still wasn't quite used to the fact that humans were a hell of a lot more fragile than Asguardians.

"Director Fury, we're online." A nameless intern said, popping in from the doorway.

The screen flickered to life and they found themselves staring at a man with an angular face and black hair slicked-back. He was dressed expensively, black three piece pinstripe suit, and a maniacal grin on his face. He stood in front of a red curtain and was lit with a spotlight.

"Avengers and Nick Fury, greetings." The man said cheerfully.

"Uhhh, Fury, who's the nutjob?" Clint asked, again followed by another elbow from Natasha.

"You may call me V and I come with a proposition. Your _Iron Man _in exchange for the code for all the nuclear warheads I _know _SHIELD has." V smirked, holding his hands in a finger pyramid of malicious contemplation.

"What?!" A simultaneous outcry from the group responded.

"Tony Stark for the nuclear warheads." V smiled as if he was offering the simplest of choices. "I know that Stark is your funding and your intelligence, without him, SHIELD is nothing. The choice is simple."

"I'm not giving you those codes." Fury said with a final attitude.

"What's going on, Fury?" Clint asked, both he and Natasha were no longer playing around.

Bruce was breathing in and out slowly, trying to calm his heart rate. Thor was confused. Steve was standing behind Nick with his arms crossed over his chest and a serious look on his face. He wasn't surprised with his options, the man was stuck between a rock and a hard place. But he wasn't going to lose another soldier.

"It appears as if you need a bit on convincing." V raised his arms in a grand gesture. "Open the curtains!"

V took a few steps back as the curtains moved to reveal a familiar man in a chair with his arms tied behind his back. Tony was in some dress pants and a light grey dress shirt, the buttons and sleeves torn and a frightening amount of blood, old and new, stained the cloth. The team were slightly relieved to find the arc reactor still glowing strong. Then their eyes settled on the basin of water beside their friend and knew things were only getting from bad to worse.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, this week has been hectic. Here's a gratuitous amount of Tony whump. Blah. If you like this, please tell me with a review. If you don't, please tell me with a review. Okay. Bye.**


	3. Chapter 3

When Tony slowly returned to consciousness and all but forced down a shriek as pained consumed him. His head felt like it was on the verge of exploding, he was pretty sure he had a few more broken ribs, his left hand was crushed, his left shoulder was dislocated, and his right ankle was probably broken. Doing his best to pull away from the pain, he glanced around to find a lap top sitting in front of him, the Avengers and Nick Fury staring back.

"Oh. Hi, guys." Tony grated out. His throat was dry as hell and he realized he was pretty hungry, granted he felt like he would throw anything he ate or drank right back up, but he would appreciate the effort.

"TONY!" Somebody yelled and Tony winced, he had a banging headache.

"Shhhhhh, I know you missed my amazing presence, but I'm fine." He gave a half smile to them and vacantly realized he was missing a tooth and his mouth tasted like copper. A figure stepped beside him and Tony glanced sideways to spot V, grinning at the webcam in the laptop maliciously.

"So the codes, Nicholas?" V smiled and Tony made a face.

"Calling Fury by his first name is not a good idea. That's like calling on the devil and expecting _not _to be sent to –" Tony was stopped midsentence with a foot slamming into his broken ribs. "FUCK!" He yelled, closing his eyes tightly as if it would help with the pain. It didn't. He wanted to die. The pain was clogging his mind and stopping him from being able to think clearly, he didn't like that. He didn't have a mutation, or superpowers, or ninja training. He was a genius. Without his mind, then he really was nothing.

"The. Codes." V grinded out angrily.

"Ooooh, Fury, forgot to mention that this guy is batshit and has the craziest mood swings." Tony chuckled but stopped when he coughed up blood. The Avengers were quiet and he wondered why. '_Did they leave? Fuck. Tell me they're at least going to try to get me out of here…'_

"Stark. Look to your right." V commanded and Tony followed, if only to save himself from another attack. He was a trough of water with ice cubes floating inside. It didn't even take him a second to realize what was in store for him.

'_No. No. No. No. NO!_' Tony screamed in his mind. _'Not again. This can't be happening AGAIN! NO!'_

"Great, I was thirsty." He kept up a cool, apathetic mask as he spoke, not wanting to let anyone know the fear he was feeling. His time in Afghanistan left him in such a deep seated fear of still water that led to him filled all of his pools with concrete, removing all bath tubs from his various houses, and never going to the beach. He had kept the phobia concealed from everyone except for Pepper, Happy, and JARVIS. Rhodes didn't even know, but Tony had a feeling he had a vague idea. But Tony had made extra sure that the Avengers had no clue of it. He had erased the files documenting his torture during his capture from any database. The only person in the Avengers who probably knew of it was Natasha. He had covered up the lack of baths with large showers and claiming he found baths disgusting since all you did was bath in your own filth. He covered up the lack of pools with the excuse that he didn't want to have drinking parties run fowl with guests drowning in the pool. He covered up not going to the beach by saying that outside was too _mainstream _and that his workshop was where he belonged. No. Nobody truly knew how scared he was of water, how downright pace the halls, wake up with nightmares, yanking out hair, _terrified _he was of still water.

V smirked at him, leisurely slipping his hands into some gloves, probably just to draw out the moment since either way, those gloves were getting wet. "Then let's get you a drink."

* * *

The Avengers all watched worriedly and winced as Tony was kicked. They all saw the pain he was feeling, hell, they'd all felt similar before. None of them were green. Steve had been slap-bang in the middle of World War II before he got frozen and torture was nothing knew to him. Bruce had been captured and experimented on countless times by people who thought that they could 'control' the Hulk. Thor had his many experiences from his adventures in his home realm. Natasha and Clint were… well, this stuff was practically part of their daily routine.

"They're going to…" Clint started off in Natasha's direction and she simply nodded.

Natasha knew about Tony's past experience in Afghanistan, she had been briefed on the situation by Pepper. Tony had refused to see anyone about what he had experienced in the cave and was apparently prone to PTSD. And she couldn't blame him. She was trained for this type of stuff but some triggers just brought the pain back like it was fresh. She could only imagine how hard it would be for a civilian like Stark to face it. People learned how to cope, but some things you just can't deal with. With somebody as dysfunctional as Tony Stark, coping wasn't even an option.

"Fury, we need to do something about this." Steve said darkly with his arms crossed over his chest. He was deep in thought. Tony was becoming something of a friend to him, albeit their incredibly rocky start, and he couldn't just stand by and watch his friend get tortured.

"I agree with the Captain, we should rescue our companion rather than wait in safety." Thor nodded, his voice quite the opposite from the usual bubbly and jovial tone.

"I'm not handing over the codes." Fury turned to face them, the decision final.

"We're not asking you to do that." Bruce said, he was looking down at the ground with clenched fists and furrowed brows, taking deep breaths in attempts to calm himself down. "We're asking you to make an effort to save your biggest asset."

"And who says Stark is my biggest asset?" Fury raised a brow and Bruce made a growling noise before jumping up.

"I need to get some air. If you'd excuse me." He stomped out of the room, his muscles had grown slightly and his skin had a greenish hue.

"Thor, go check up on him." Steve pointed to the door Bruce had left from and Thor nodded, following quietly.

"Ahem, ahem. Fury. I'm giving you one last shot to give me the codes before I begin. Sooooo, codes?" V said in a tone too happy for the situation. The group turned their attention to see V's hands tangled in Tony's brown hair, the usually styled locks were ruffled; sticking up in some places while others were matted with blood and sweat.

"Fury, if you give him the codes, I swear to God, when I die, I will haunt your shiny fucking head." Tony said through gritted teeth, obviously in pain as V held his weight with his hair. He was trying to squat and take the burden off his scalp with his legs but the position was awkward and hopeless.

"I'm not giving the codes, Stark." It seemed to be the only thing Fury knew how to say today. _I'm not giving the codes._

_'He doesn't even seem to care if Tony lives or dies.' _Steve frowned at the thought. He knew Nick was only doing his job. The population of Earth or Tony Stark. The option should've been easy and obvious. Tony Stark was his choice.

* * *

"I love you too, Nicky." Tony chortled and the joke gained him an extra hard pull on his hair. The pulling was reopening the scabbed wounds on his scalp was well as reducing him to a small child with pain. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. If I knew you were a hair puller, I wouldn't have paid for dinner, princess. I've got my fetishes but this ain't one of them."

Tony felt his head get pulled back so his ear was right by V's mouth. "Have a drink, Stark." V hissed angrily and Tony barely inhaled before he felt his head forced down into icy water.

_'FUCK! NO! FUCK! NOT AGAIN! FUCK!' _He shrieked in his mind, flashing between Afghanistan and the present. _'I'M NOT BUILDING THOSE FUCKING WEAPONS! NO! YINSEN! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! FURY DON'T GIVE THE CODES! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!' _He felt himself thrash and shift his wounds painfully. _'YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN! CALM… Down.' _Tony tried to still himself, tried to stop himself from wasting the precious small amounts of oxygen he had left. He knew how much ice water in the lungs stung, he wasn't going back there. _'You can hold your breath for around two and a half minutes. You'll be fine, Tony. You'll be fine.' _He felt his lungs screaming for again but he ignored it, actually enjoying the numbness that came along with being systematically drowned. He went slack, it was a trick he learned from his time in the cave. If you're a hostage, if you're leverage, they don't want to kill you. Just in time, his head was pulled from the water, hair tugging out of its roots, and he took the chance to gasp in the air, trying not to choke on the leftover water covering him. He didn't have a chance to look around before everything was dark and watery around him once more. Again, he tried to be still, he tried to bide his time, he tried not to drown. But this time, a fist made contact with his gut and reflex forced him to cough out the precious air he was holding it. He gasped in shock and was treated with a mouthful of ice water.

_'Fuck.'_

* * *

**A/N: Tony + Whump = My Favourite. And I can't believe this story's got so many followers already, I love all of you. Again, this is unbeta'd so mistakes are my own. And please, please, please, please don't forget to review. Those things make my day. Seriously. Love you. 'Til next time~**


	4. Chapter 4

The members of the team still in the conference room watched silently, seething with anger, as Tony's head was forced into the water over and over again. They winced as he thrashed and gasped and choked. Tony Stark wasn't supposed to look like this. He wasn't supposed to be dirty and desperate. He wasn't supposed to be covered in blood and crying out in pain. Tony Stark was the elegant socialite with the ability to charm the pants off anyone. Tony Stark was the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, who could get out of any situation, who could always cut the proverbial wire.

Yet right in front of them was a man clinging to life as ice water was forced into his lungs.

Then Natasha caught it. The panic in his eyes. She had watched, slightly impressed at how well he was handling the situation. Most people would've crumbled and begged for mercy quite quickly, but he had remained silent except for the yells of pain and the choked coughs. Until his eyes glazed over and he began to thrash more violently, his movements jerkier and less controlled. He tried to attack V as the villain held his head beneath the water but he was too weak to do any harm, his body too tired to deal with the sudden hyperactivity of his mind. Tony began choking on the water, the team saw it. The times previous, he had managed to control himself, stopping inhaling before things got bad. But it seemed he had lost all power. He was breathing in water like it was air.

"YINSEN! HELP! H-HELP!" For the first time since the torture had started, Tony had called for help. His voice escaped from a tired throat and chattering teeth, desperate and needy, he sounded like a cornered animal.

"Who's Yinsen?" Clint asked the room. "Was somebody else taken?"

Natasha hesitated before answering, her mind slightly distracted by the image of such a usual proud man begging for air.

"No. He's dead." Natasha turned to face Fury, trying to block out the sound of Tony's screams. "We need to do something Nick. Tony is not going to last long. Even if we get him out… You know what happened in Afghanistan. Nobody could deal with that twice. Not untrained."

Fury stared at the redhead grimly, he agreed, but he wasn't going to hand over the codes that easily. Fakes? No. V wasn't an idiot. Proof of that was that he was able to compromise JARVIS. Handing over fake codes would do more harm than good. He needed to find wherever the hell the bastard was holding Stark, despite what he said, Stark's mind and money were a big asset to SHIELD.

"Hill, how are we doing on tracing the hideout?" Fury asked on the PA.

"No good. Whoever this guy is, he knows what he's doing. His signal's bouncing off several satellites making it impossible for us to trace him." Hill's voice responded.

"Impossible or challenging?" Steve spoke up, he didn't like how easily it seemed SHIELD was giving up on Tony.

"Incredibly challenging, Mr. Rogers." Hill snapped.

"Keep on trying, Hill." Fury clicked off the PA and turned back to face the screen.

"What the hell were you two talking about before, by the way? About Tony and Afghanistan?" Clint asked, leaning back, averting his eyes from the monitor.

"I read about that, Tony was held captive a few years ago, right?" Steve had heard that Tony had come out mostly unscathed, other than the arc reactor finding it's home in his chest and a few fractures.

"Yes…" When Pepper had told her about what happened to Stark during his captivity, Natasha had been sworn to secrecy. Tony didn't want anybody knowing about it. He didn't want anybody pitying him for the past.

"You're hiding something, 'Tasha, and I have a feeling it's important." Clint read his partner through narrowed eyes.

"PTSD." Natasha sighed.

"What about it?" Steve inquired. The SHIELD doctors had said he had the same thing; he reacted quite negatively to ice and the cold.

"Tony has PTSD. What's happening to him right now happened in Afghanistan." Natasha didn't want to explain too much, she felt like she was invading the billionaire's privacy. She herself was secretive and didn't want people to know her weaknesses, a man with a pride and ego as large as Stark's would resent anything with a semblance to pity.

"He… Oh. No pools, baths, or beaches… Makes sense." The pieces clicked together quickly in Clint's mind and he completely understood. He didn't like red apples. "That also explains why he suddenly got worse…" Clint slowly looked up at the screen to find Tony gasping for air, his jaw resting on the edge of the water trough. All of his hair was stuck to his head, his teeth chattered, his eyes were shot and unfocused, his body was shaking, and water mixed with blood dripped from him.

"Why haven't I heard of this before?" Steve was shocked. Afghanistan had happened before the two of them had met and suddenly the words exchanged on the helicarrier all the while ago came back and he shuddered. He had long since admitted how wrong he was back then, but this just made it worse.

"You know Stark." Natasha shrugged as if that was all the explanation needed. And it was. Tony was a social creature by nature, but the past had melded him into a private person in another right. Even though he couldn't hold his tongue, he never spoke about his past unless it was about previous one-night stands or funny drunken stories or past lab experiments. Occasionally he let slip and fact or two but quickly moved the conversation to a light hearted theme or sent a jab at another person to take the attention away from himself for long enough to gather his thoughts.

V slowly peels off his soaked gloves, a maniacal grin growing on his face. "Well, Nicholas, I hope this has helped you with your decision. I'll call the same time tomorrow and I expect my codes."

The connection suddenly caught off the team was caught under the weight of the situation. They were stuck between the choice of their planet… or their friend.

* * *

**A/N: Dun dun dun. Short chapter, I'm sorry, but this idea just popped into my head. I'm stuck between using badass Tony or badass Avengers…. So me thinks I'll use both. I love all the reviews I've been getting and I appreciate them a lot, so if you would please leave a review that would be fantastic and I would love you forever. **

**For now, it's 4 AM, so, goodnight.**


	5. Chapter 5

Tony groaned and rolled his head back, everything hurt and he felt so cold yet way too hot at the same time. He seemed to constantly be shivering and it rattled his injuries, multiplying the pain. _'Great, I've got pneumonia, don't I? fuck I'm hungry…' _He slowly blinked his eyes open, wincing at the lights in the room that weren't even that bright but already too strong for the headache ravaging his skull. He noticed that he was no longer hanging from chains which brought him great relief though he knew his shoulder was dislocated, his mind had simply dulled out the pain. He was instead restrained to a bed, his arms shackled to his sides, his feet tightly secured together, and his waist and neck held down in a similar fashion. It was uncomfortable but Tony managed to get a look around just by moving his neck, not fun for nausea and he had to take a break every few moments in fear that he would throw up. He seemed to be in a different room, this one was like a cell, no more chains. There was a toilet in the corner, a mirror, and a sink. _'How thoughtful." _Tony rolled his eyes.

"Hey, can I get some room service in here?" He yelled, or at least tried to yell. Even though the ice water had more than quenched his damned thirst, drowning wasn't really kind on the throat. While he waited for a response, he tried to gather his thoughts. The last thing he had remembered was working in his lab when a stranger had walked in followed by a group of gunmen. He called for JARVIS but the AI appeared to be offline. He had made a quick scramble to an Iron Man suit but the gunmen quickly had him down on his knees. The stranger, who Tony now knew as V, had smiled and covered Tony's mouth with a cloth, completely ignoring Tony's attempt at retaliation. Eventually he had fallen unconscious and then he was… here. In all likeliness, if he didn't get out of this mess on his own, he was going to die here. These guys were able to compromise JARVIS, not just anybody could do that. SHIELD's systems might as well be pointless, JARVIS could try but he wasn't as useful without a genius guiding him. The genius was usually Tony but sadly, he was strapped to a bed. If he had access to a couple of tools, he could do something, but V wasn't risking it. He didn't want Stark weapons or designs, he didn't want the Iron man armour. All Tony was good for at the moment was leverage… on Nick Fury. _Nobody _was leverage on the SHIELD director, let alone Tony Stark, the biggest pain in the ass the man had ever had. Tony was slightly grateful for the restraints, it stopped him from moving because if he did move, he would jar a dozen injuries and just make the whole ordeal worse. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. At least the place looked vaguely civilized, there was light and tiles and cement and it wasn't a cave. That was what was important, that's what he needed to keep reminding himself. **_He's not in the cave_****. **This time there wasn't a life relying on him, if he died it would be fine. If he died in place of the world it would be… But he didn't want to die. He was just starting to pay the world back for all the wrong he had done. He had just started painting over the red in his ledger, red greater than Natasha and Clint's combined. He couldn't die yet. But if Fury handed over those codes in place of his life, Tony sighed dejectedly, that wasn't even an option. Tony Stark wasn't worth it, he wasn't worth the trouble. All his worth was in his genius and his money, he himself knew it. Nobody actually took pleasure in being around him, but they used him for what he had. Natasha and Clint because Fury assigned them to do so, the custom weapons didn't hurt either. Bruce stuck around for the labs and the fact that he could actually be somewhere without having somebody scared of him. But he didn't care about Tony, he shouldn't anyway, all he ever did was bug the guy. It made him feel guilty from time to time, but hey,Tony was an asshole at heart. Steve only stayed with him because of his relation to Howard. Howard Stark, the good friend of Captain America. Tony hated it. He had grown up idolizing Captain America, he had thought of the man as a second father to make up for the one he lacked. Yet Captain America also thought of him as a failure. But he was still Howard's son and the patriot wasn't going to let his friend's heir go unattended. Finally, Thor, well… Thor wasn't around much and when he was, they didn't talk. The only time they ever actually socialized was when they sparred. The two were simply too different. Golden son loved by his fathered and a hero in every right. Tony Stark… Pretty much the mortal Loki, as much as it pained him to admit it. At least he wasn't crazy… but that much was debateable if he was honest.

He heard a door open and instantly flicked his attention back to the world around him. "Do you have any coffee with you, by chance?" It was posed as a joke but Tony was incredibly reliant on the substance, it made him feel calm, it made him feel whole.

He received no reply. Apparently, a grunt had been sent to give him food. "Food." The man said simply, coldly, feeling nothing for the broken man lying in front of him.

"Yeah, and how am I supposed to eat that?" Tony asked, not quite sure what 'that' was. It seemed to be mashed potatoes mixed with some mystery meat… but the potatoes looked grey and the meat looked blue.

The grunt pushed a button and the bed suddenly moved itself to a vertical position, and it moved a bit too quickly because Tony found himself screaming as his ribs moved and his shoulder shifted and just… everything hurt. He ignored the tear of frustration that lay in the corners of his eyes. It didn't help that he felt so cold and his mind was clouding up. He had forgotten the 345th digit of pi when he should've known it to the 458th decimal place... The henchman held out the plate in front of Tony's face looking bored and tony paused for a moment wondering what was going on. Then it dawned on him.

"You can't be serious." Tony frowned. He was no beast. Sure, he didn't mind finger food, he actually really liked it, but stuffing his face into who knows what just wouldn't happen.

"You have ten minutes before I get to leave and trust me when I say that I'm not waiting for you to finish." The man said dully. Tony sighed and couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed as to what he was about to do. He slowly lowered his mouth into the mush and quickly learned it was cold, bland, solid, and disgusting. He forced down every bite, knowing full well his body needed the minor nutrients whatever the mystery meal contained. He was half way through, his throat soar and burning after forcing the food down and his stomach churning to send it all back up, the henchman pulled the plate away from his face. "Ten minutes are up." He noted before pushing a button to Tony's far left side that sent the bed back to a laying position. Again, too quickly, because he almost threw up the little contents in his stomach, sheer willpower kept it down. He needed to get out. Soon.

* * *

"I can't believe we're just sitting here while Tony is… Tony is getting hurt." Steve was pacing with frustration, a man of action finding himself in a situation where he could do nothing to help. He should be planning, he should be saving Tony from that mad man… But he didn't have any place to start.

"Calm down, Friend Steven, the agents of SHIELD are doing their utmost to find Friend Tony's location." Thor said but even he was disturbed by what was occurring. After he and Bruce returned to the room, Clint had filled them in on what had happened and it damn near caused a hulk-out.

"Yeah… But Tony is out there having who knows what done to him and I can't help but feel useless…" Steve sighed dejectedly.

Clint and Natasha understood what Tony was going through the most, it was almost part of their daily routine to get captured and tortured. But even though it happened often enough, they never got used to it. You just can't. Having your world so thoroughly shattered in such a way, even though they had gotten captured intentionally, they both knew how easy it was to spiral into insanity. It was even easier when the capture was unexpected. No one to talk to, no one to keep you sane. Your only companion was the constant pain on broken bones, the smell or blood, and the only thing to look forward to was the next hit, the next punch, the next screams to escape your throat, then… death. The hope of getting saved gets dimmer by the second, voices whispering in your head that nobody will save you. The darkness and the shadows playing tricks, making the faces of demons. Eventually, those whispers get loud until their screams, until they become your only companion. The pain is gone, the hope is gone, even the relief that death would bring is gone. All that's left is broken and it's almost impossible to return from that. It troubled both the spies to great extents knowing that Tony might be broken… he was too good to go crazy. Sure, he played the part of mad scientist well enough, but a broken man… A broken man wasn't much a man at all.

Clint threw Natasha a look, exchanging words in a language only they understood. _'I can't stand much more of this. I can't wait.'_

Natasha returned with a serious face, understanding his feelings entirely. _'I'll wait until tomorrow and if SHIELD hasn't done anything by then, we're taking action… You saw him on the screen, you've been there… He won't be able to take much more of that.'_

_'I know.'_

* * *

Tony slowly banged his head against the bed, having nothing better to do. His guards had recently released him for long enough to take a piss, but even then he was held at gun point. He knew the amount of blood he had lost was dangerous, the room was filled with black spots that were definitely not caused by the poor lighting. He had stopped registering the fact that he was shaking, his mind only telling him two things. _'Escape' _and _'You're gonna die.'_

He couldn't stop himself from being filled with dread at the next time his head would be shoved underwater, the next time he would be beaten, the next time V would stroll in with another creative punishment in mind. He knew he should have hope, he knew he should wait for the Avengers who definitely wouldn't give up on him so quickly… right? He shook the thought away, negative thinking wouldn't help him. But he absently wondered if the Avengers took this as a relief… if SHIELD did. Tony had been a liability from the start. Iron Man, yes, Tony Stark, no. That's the way it had always been. Because Tony was inconsistent, because Tony was a pain in the ass, because Tony was… Tony. The only reason SHIELD accepted him onto the team was because of his funding and his gadgets, the stint with the nuke on his back only an added bonus, a burn mark scarring running down his spine a physical reminder of the incident. If Tony died, he had left a hefty sum of money to SHIELD, more than enough to keep them running for years to come. Plus, their technicians weren't too bad. They weren't Tony Stark… But if Tony Stark was dead, the competition would be out of the equation. Really, it would only be up for SHIELD if he died: funding and no more pain in the ass. Tony chuckled as he wondered why Fury hadn't sent an assassin on him sooner. NO! He should not be thinking like that. SHIELD was going to get him out of here… At least the Avengers will…

Tony slammed his head against the bed once more, barely registering the fact that blood was seeping into the mattress from the cut in his head that he had reopened. He was getting dizzy. Not good. He needed to make a plan. He needed to get a signal out there to tell the others where he was being held… _'Lap top.' _The answered dinged in his mind, a flash of clarity in the storm holding his mind. If he could survive until tomorrow and get access to the lap top they were using to stream his torture to the team, he could use it to send a signal, a digital flare loud and bright enough for even the morons at SHIELD to notice. He closed his eyes slowly, letting the darkness overcome him. He needed to gather the little strength he had to fulfill his plan. The computer part would be easy, getting to it would be the problem.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update, suffered a bit of writer's block and such. I hope I didn't disappoint you guys with this chapter. Once again, everything is unbeta'd… but omfg, 100+ follows? You guys are great. Thanks once again. Don't forget to review, it means a lot to me and keeps me going! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

The team watched anxiously as the connection flicked back to life in front of them. Even Natasha cringed when she saw the state Tony was in, it shook up all of them. He was tied to a chair and the blood staining his clothes only spread since their last sighting. His skin was gray and pasty, and the fact that he was clearly not well was obvious even through the grainy film quality of the laptop webcam. Tony didn't appear to be conscious which offered relief to the team but also worried them in fear that maybe… just maybe, he wouldn't wake up. But the arc reactor was still glowing bright and they noticed the acute rise and fall of his chest, the laboured gasps escaping his open mouth.

"Hello! Pleasure to see you again!" V jumped into view, waving his hand at the camera, covering up Tony from their view.

Nobody on the team decided to grace him with a response.

"Tough crowd. So, Nicholas, my codes?" V smirked, crossing his arms.

"I told you already, dumbass, you aren't getting those codes." Fury answered. He still spoke confidently and clearly, shocking everyone at the table – except for Clint and Natasha. He was the Director of SHIELD for good reason.

"Now, now," V clicked his tongue, "Have you consulted your little band of heroes about this? If you don't give me those codes, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill your little piggy bank in front of you. Slowly. Painfully. While he's conscious. Just so that you and your team can watch as he realizes that you have done nothing to save him. Then, the life will leave his eyes. And it will be your fault. Because you AREN'T GIVING ME MY DAMN CODES!" V suddenly shrieked. He seemed to be prone to mood swings.

"Is it that time of the month? That why you're so angry?" Clint snickered. He was doing his best to remain calm but he was genuinely worried for Tony. The man had been his best friend here at the tower. They both shared the same juvenile sense of humour.

Bruce's hands were clenched on the arm rests of the chair. The thing was supposed to be made of out steel but it bent like putty in his grip. The scientist was trying his best to remain calm, to make sure to keep everybody around him safe… But he couldn't stand the sight of his only friend dying in front of his eyes, yet at the same time, he couldn't leave because he needed to be there if something went wrong. He owed Tony that much.

"It's about time we wake the Man of Iron up!" V chuckled, mimicking Thor's mighty boom.

"It would be wise not to mock me, mortal." Thor warned. The happy attitude that usually radiated off him was long gone. What they were seeing was Thor preparing for battle.

* * *

Tony felt a tapping sensation on his cheek and felt the haze of a dreamless sleep fading away, only to be replaced with the white noise of sheer agony. He bit his lip tightly to contain the scream and closed his eyes to protect it from the shockingly bright light of the room – it was in fact just a dim bulb, but he had grown too accustomed to darkness – and also to cover of the tears that coupled with the burning sensation flowing though him.

"Tony! Tony, are you alright?!" He heard people yelling… But that wasn't right. Nobody cared about him. If somebody did, he wouldn't be in this situation. Tied to a chair. Bleeding. _NO! _They are trying their best… _'I was supposed to do something… what was it…' _

Slowly, Tony opened his left eye, then the other. Everything seemed blurry and he didn't know that his eyes were bloodshot and glazed. He forced himself to focus at what was directly in front of him. _'… That's right. The lap top… Signal.' _He clenched his fists tied behind his back slowly, determining his strength. He had little to none. He held the fist for a second then released it. "Hey… A… Asshole," Tony grated out, pausing every word to catch his breath. Since when did breathing become so hard? "How… about y-you… Untie… me…" He found the strength to look V in the eye. The mad man seemed genuinely amused by Tony's pain and it made him want to punch his captor in the face. Repeatedly. "Not … like I… I can… do… any…thing." he gasped for air and was unsatisfied when his lungs didn't cooperate.

"Tony, do you take me for a fool?" V smirked, slapping the billionaire's cheek.

"Y-Yes…" Tony steeled his will and forced a weak grin onto his face. He tried to make it look like his normal smiles but he just wasn't bothered enough. That strength should be put towards getting to that lap top.

His words were met with a punch to the gut that left his reeling and coughing up blood. "What did I say about talking back?! You are nothing! You are filth! You are less than the dirt beneath my shoe! Your life is in my hands and it would be wise of you to listen to my instructions!" V hissed angrily.

Hell, screw getting to the lap top, V was getting his daily dose of verbal bitch slap.

"You're… less than… all of that…. You are an… idiot... to steal from… a gang of… super heroes… You have… good taste… I have to a-admit… But your torture… torture forms are un…unoriginal. Your wardrobe… is… drab… Your voice is… downright annoying… And you… have the …. mood patterns of… a hormonal tee…teenaged girl… on her… period…" Tony topped it off by spitting in V's direction, satisfied to find some blood land on his stupid face.

V suddenly grabbed Tony's hair and yanked his head back. "I want you to look at that screen. Look at all of your 'Avengers' watching. None of them have moved to save you. None of them are even trying. They've just sat around waiting for the show. This show. The one where I kill you. The one where you die. Because that's what they want. What they all want. They want you. to. die."

Tony grit his teeth, whether it be from the pain of having his hair pulled at the roots or him trying to fight the lump forming in his throat, he wasn't sure. "N-nice… Self proje-projection." Tony said through gritted teeth. A voice in his head told him that V was right, that V was telling the truth, and the voice sounded like it was getting louder.

"I want you to beg. I want you begging for your life and crying and throwing away your damn dignity and tell Nicholas over there to give me those damn codes." Tony felt a rough material grace across his neck and felt and odd weight on his shoulders. It wasn't heavy but its weight was noticeable.

"Not… happening." Tony answered and slowly looked down to find out what exactly was on him… A rope? Yes, it was a rope… wrapped around his neck… why did it feel like it was slowly getting tighter…?

* * *

The team's collective heart beats seemed to stop for a moment. Tony hadn't seemed to notice the commotion going on behind him. Perhaps V had wanted it that way. A henchman had tossed a rope over on of the exposed beams in the building, right above Tony's head. A noose hung loosely, waiting for its victim. When V slipped the knot around Tony's neck, the group jolted to attention.

"Stop it! What are you doing?!" Steve demanded, his face turning red with rage. His neck was corded and his body tense.

"I told you, didn't I?" V stared at them through the screen as if they were idiots. "I'm going to kill this swine as slowly as possible. I'm going to strangle him bit by bit. I'm going to let him look at you as the oxygen leaves his body and never returns." Tony moved to stare up at V and the Avengers didn't miss the look of terror mingling with the confusion in his eyes. He had yet to fully comprehend the literal noose on him. "Until you give me the codes, this knot is going to get tighter. And tighter. And," V yanked the cord back, causing Tony to emit a choked gurgle, "_Tighter_."

"I'm not giving you the damn codes." Fury spat out, angry at himself, angry at Tony for getting caught, and most of all, angry at V for being such a tiny bitch. "We have sent out men to your location. They will blow you to bits and piss on your goddamn ashes. Do you understand?"

"Nope." V giggled. "You have no idea who I am. You haven't even sent any men because if you did, your little superhero gang would've been on the first helicopter here. All those hot-blooded morons would've come to rip my head off. But instead, they're sitting in that room looking like they're ready to piss themselves. What do you think, Tony? Has Nicholas sent anyone?" V turned to Tony, patting his cheek.

"Fuck you." Tony whispered, saving the rest of his breath. He was inhaling as much as he could but the broken rib hindered his efforts.

V frowned. "You know what, Tony? I was going to make this somewhat comfortable for you, but you know what? I'm done being a merciful host." Then, V kicked the chair out from under Tony. Tony began to twist awkwardly as his air was cut off. The was forced to remain in between a squat and lying down to relieve any pressure at all from his throat.

The Avengers gasped.

"Alright, we need to do something. Anything. Otherwise Tony is going to _die_." Steve said, and turned to face everyone.

"Right on that, Cap. But what are we supposed to do?" Clint asked.

"V was right. We have no idea what's going on." Bruce sighed. His jaw was still clenched as he forced the beast to remain within. Natasha shot him a look as he revealed the secret in front of the camera, but Bruce returned one with a green-eyed glint that caused her to look away.

"The building they are in appears abandoned. Is that of any use?" Thor supplied.

"I wish, Thor, but there are thousands of abandoned buildings. And that's just America. These guys could be anywhere." Natasha explained and Thor deflated.

"So you admit that you have nothing else to do except…" V started, approaching the lap top. Tony was strangling in the background, squirming and struggling against the slow pull of the rope. A henchman from behind was pulling the rope, causing the noose to tighten and Tony to try to match the rising pace. Soon enough, his feet wouldn't reach the floor and he'd be dead in minutes.

"We're not giving the damn codes. How many times am I going to get that through your bitchass skull?" Fury grated.

V rolled his eyes. "You sure have a cold heart, Nicholas. You're watching a man slowly lose his life and it's all your fault. You can stop it though. And if you don't, I sure your Avengers friends will eventually have enough and force you to tell me. To save their little pal." V nudged Tony's foot, causing him to lose his balance all over again. This time, the rope kept him from falling on his ass, forcing his head to remain at the same height but his body to drop. His pale skin looked almost blue. "I'm getting bored of this. Do tell Pritchard, the man holding the rope, the codes when you're ready. He's won't stop pulling otherwise. I'm off for some tea." V glanced at his hostage. "You want some, Tony-boy? I brew a mean cuppa."

Tony didn't even spare V a look, instead focusing on his struggle to survive. V skipped off screen and out of the room.

"That's it. I'm getting into a plane and I'm looking for him." Steve stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"Like hell you will, Captain. Sit your ass down." Fury glared at him.

"No. Tony is going to die. I need to do _something_." Steve argued.

"And what if you get into that plane and you fly the wrong way. You don't have any co-ordinates soldier."

"I got bullied a lot as a kid. I was beaten down. I hated how it felt. And now Tony is going through something billions of times worse. I'm not going to sit down and let it happen. No way. I'm getting on that plane and I'm finding him. Abandoned building, right, Thor?" Steve looked at Thor as he walked out of the room.

"Aye." Thor nodded and followed Steve out.

"What do those idiots expect to happen? Something magical will happen and we'll know where Tony is?" Bruce grunted, already standing up to follow them.

Natasha and Clint remained in the room, staring at Fury.

"We're going to break your order, sir." Natasha explained.

"Yeah, go ahead. All the others decided to." Fury shrugged, turning to take a seat at the table to face the screen. It still held a live feed of Tony's struggle to survive. "I'll update you if anything happens." Fury looked tired and worn. Perhaps he truly did feel sorry for Tony, but it wasn't enough for him to risk the entire world to save him.

"Thank you, sir." Clint nodded. The two spies marched out of the room.

"Good luck, you two. I hope you somehow manage to save Stark."

* * *

**A/N: I am so so so so so so so sorry that it took so long to update this fic. I lost all inspiration to do it for a while. In fact, most of this chapter had already been written and I've had the conclusion in my head for a while. I just never wrote it out. For that, I'm really sorry. Don't worry though, the final few chapters are now in the works and this fic is going to be finished! I PROMISE! **

**Sorry again. **


	7. Chapter 7

'_Fuck… Fuck!' _Tony screamed in his mind. The chair and rope pulled his body towards the ground but the noose kept his head high, strangling him. Tony attempted to take deep breaths, focusing all of his effort on inhaling as much oxygen as possible. But it wasn't working out. His broken body only made the process work. _'2 minutes. Okay, I need this rope off my neck before within two minutes. If not, I go unconscious. I _die_.' _Tony felt his body going number as the precious air continued to escape. A few short breaths made it past the rope, giving him enough of a bump to think. He tried his best to look at the man pulling the rope. He was big. Like Thor big, with enough fat to give him a couple dozen extra pounds. _'I need him to let go. How the fuck is that going to happen?' _Tony gazed into the lap top; it was still connected to the boardroom. But everyone was gone. Everyone except Fury. A depressing thought hit him. _'Huh. Maybe they finally gave up. Maybe they realized that I'm a lost cause and now they're back to their daily schedule. Brucie's probably in the lab talking to JARVIS. Damn, I miss J. Steve's probably whacking away at that punching bag. He probably thinks he's lost another soldier and is blaming himself. Idiot. Everyone else. Well, they probably don't notice.' _Images popped to his mind: Natasha and Clint continuing on their mission, always straight faced and terrifying; Thor eating some Pop Tarts. _'They probably don't care…' _

For a split second, Tony considered giving up. He thought about giving up his struggle and letting his body fall slack, allowing the rope to choke him out. That's when the idea struck him. _'So I guess I'm not dying today. If this plan works out…' _

Tony stared at Fury, looking worn on the lap top screen. Fury was glaring intensely at the man holding Tony's rope. If looks could kill, the mad would surely be dead. He didn't blame Fury. This wasn't a situation in which he could give out orders. There were no orders to be given, no information to work with. The SHIELD director finally looked at Tony and stopped. Tony tried his best to get his thoughts across, glancing back at his executioner every few moments. He sagged his body down in attempts to show Fury his plan. A plan that desperately needed the director's help if it was to work at all.

Tony winked at the man, asking if he had caught the message. Fury gave a curt nod.

'_Alright. Hopefully none of that got lost in translation.' _Tony laughed to himself morbidly. If this plan didn't work out, well, he was screwed either way. He gave up struggling, closing his eyes and letting his body go still. To anyone else, it looked like he had lost consciousness and was on the brink of death. Or at least, that's what he was going for. He struggled to keep himself awake. He needed to reserve his strength for the next part of the plan.

"Fuck! Stark!" Fury yelled. Tony caught the noise of a metal chair moving and pictured Fury leaping to his feet. The guy was a dedicated actor. "I'll give you… I'll give you the goddamn codes."

Fury's words caught the strangler's attention and Tony felt the rope loosen. The strangler assumed that Tony was no longer a threat; he was unconscious, beaten, and dying. Tony made use of that and in the sparing seconds of his executioner's ineptitude, he pushed his body down to the floor with all of his might.

It took the guard a moment to realize what was happening. He was shocked by the sudden burn in his hands as the rope was rapidly pulled from him. He immediately let go, only remembering his purpose when it was too late.

Tony crashed to the ground. As he fell, he turned the chair so it cracked down the middle upon impact. But he couldn't avoid the back of his head slamming into the concrete. He fought to keep his consciousness, the adrenaline pumping him through. Before he even started to breathe again, he whipped the noose off of his neck by flipping his head back and forth. He fought the urge to throw up, his concussion arguing with him the whole time. Then, free of the knot, he gasped down air, sounding like a fish out of water. As he struggled, he shimmied out of the ropes tying him to the chair. They were loose from his previous struggled and the wooden chair was cracking from his landing. He heard the guard approaching.

"Now would be a good time to get up, Stark." Fury's voice noted from the lap top.

Tony ignored him, still struggling on the ground. Just as he got his right arm free, a foot landed on his chest, blocking out the light from the arc reactor.

"Listen here, chump. I'm sick of you. Now let me string you up nicely so you can die and V will give me my money."

Tony stared at the man looming over him. He was paunchy and the stink of sweat came off him in waves. His skin gleamed with perspiration which Tony didn't understand since he felt incredibly cold – though it might've been the blood loss. The foot was pressing on his injured ribs but Tony was past the point of feeling pain. His body was numb and his mind was racing, thinking only of his survival. Without a thought, he jammed his newly-freed fist into the side of the man's knee. Tony didn't know where the strength came from, but a sickening crush filled his ears. The man collapsed and as he struggled with his knee, Tony took the time to free the rest of his body. He moved to stand, the backing of the chair still tied to his torso. The guard seemed to have caught himself and swung a fist at Tony. Tony dropped, dodging the punch and then some. A knee moved up to meet his face, and he jumped. As he jumped, his entire body complaining in the process, he swung his head back and with all the rage that he had built within himself from the past few days of torture, Tony slammed his forehead into the guard's nose. Another crunch filled his ears and Tony felt a new layer of warm blood touch his face, but this time it wasn't his, at least, not for the most part. It was his guard's; the blood belonged to his executioner. The man fell to the ground and a part of Tony realized that he'd probably killed the man. He had probably broken his facial bones so badly that they had punctured his brain. But Tony didn't acknowledge it. He didn't have the time. Instead, Tony ran to the lap top.

"Stark. Are you okay?" Fury asked. Secretly, he was impressed. Sure, Tony had gotten lucky with only one guard watching him, but he still managed to take the big man down despite his obvious injuries.

"Nope. Are you going blind in your one good eye?" Tony cracked. He had a habit of poking fun during stressful situations, it was a coping mechanism.

"What are you doing?" Fury asked as he watched Tony type at the keyboard, giving the camera a clear view of the bloody shirt on his torso.

"Every computer has a tracking signal. This one's been jammed. I'm opening the flood gates." Tony explained, his fingers moved with the same speed and certainty as a trained pianist.

"They didn't leave you, by the way." Fury noted, filling the silence.

"What?" Tony asked, already knowing who Fury was talking about.

"The superhuman brats. They're on their way to a jet right now." Fury said.

"What the hell do they expect to happen? That some miracle wind will send them to my location." Tony snorted at their idiocy. He had expected Natasha at least to make the group see logic.

"You're at a computer right now, Stark. Make a miracle." Fury commanded and Tony was happy to deliver.

"It'd be a nice nickname: _God_. Though the religious backlash would be to much a pain to keep it up."

Fury snorted.

"Hey, Jarv?" Tony asked aloud.

"What are you doing-?" Before Fury finished his question, the familiar English voice spoke up.

"Greetings, sir. It has been far too long."

"Don't tell me that your AI has been watching this the whole time." Fury frowned.

"Then I won't tell you anything," Tony directed to Fury. Then, his tone changed as he spoke to JARVIS. "Been a while, buddy. But I just sent out a flare from this lap top with our… _signature._ Take the co-ordinates and give it to those idiots before they start flying to Arkansas or something."

"Of course, sir. Do you need anything else?" JARVIS asked. Some of his processors were already busy searching for Tony's flare. He found it in the form of a string of binary that was repeating in a remote corner of LA, just by the borderline of Nevada. It read, "0100100100100000010000010100110100100000010000010 10101110100010101010011010011110100110101000101"

"Call Pep and Rhodes for me. Tell 'em I'll _probably _be back soon." Tony made room for the possibility that the Avengers didn't come in time to save him. "Also, have a diner reserved for me when I come back. I'm talking milkshakes, fries, and an actual _American _burger. None of that Burger King of McDonalds crap. Understand?"

"Of course, sir. The reservations are now made. Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, and Bruce are on their way to your location." JARVIS informed Tony.

"STARK! TURN AROUND!" Fury yelled as he caught sight of the familiar figure behind Tony.

"What?" Tony turned and was met with a pistol whip to the jaw, which sent him sprawling on the floor in an instant.

"_Tsk tsk._" V clicked his tongue as he looked at the unconscious Tony disappointedly. "I'm not very happy with you, Tony. You were supposed to be swinging on a noose by the time I returned. Instead, you're chatting with Nicholas and Pritchard is dead. You've certainly ruined my tea." V shook his head and lectured, uncaring that Tony couldn't hear him. "And Nicholas. I suppose you haven't given those codes. But you have sent your most precious band of empathetic heroes, lead by the golden boy with a big heart. How quickly do you think they'll succumb when I welcome them with a gun to Tony's head? My bet is extremely fast. Then you'll lose your superheroes, your defence against aliens, not to mention that they are the only thing that makes a government agency as wasteful as yours look at all profitable. How soon do you think your funds will be cut off after you lose your idols? Give me the codes, Fury. I expect them on my computer before the days out, or I'll kill the _Avengers_."

"How do you expect me to leave the codes on your computer?" Fury asked through gritted teeth. V was right but there was still no way in hell he was handing over those codes. SHIELD might need to end, the Avengers may be over, but he wasn't handing the rest of the world to a lunatic.

"I'll let you figure that one out. You have Stark's AI helping you out, non?" V slipped in some friend then laughed. "Toodles. Hopefully you see the light of reason, Nicholas. Before it's too late."

Then, V shut the lap top, cutting of the stream.

* * *

**A/N: WHOAAAA! Two updates in two days! What is happening?! ?! I'm dead set on finishing this fic. If you haven't noticed, it's nearing it's end… just a year later then planned. Once again, I beg you guys to leave some reviews, they honestly give me the inspiration to continue this fic. Plus, they just make me super happy. See ya at the next chapter~ :D**

**A/N #2: Also, this entire fic is unbeta'd and I apologize for the typos and grammar mistakes. I'm just churning this out in a mad-dash to complete. Hopefully it's still understandable.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Greetings, Ms. Romanov." JARVIS voice filled the quinjet.

"JARVIS?" Natasha asked. She sat in the pilot's seat and didn't mind when all eyes turned on her.

"Since you are piloting the jet for today, I feel like it is of great importance that I inform you of your destination." JARVIS stated, keeping his tone polite and even.

"How do you know the location?" Steve asked. He didn't even bother wondering how JARVIS had made it aboard a SHIELD quinjet – Tony had probably done it ages ago to spite Fury.

"Master Stark managed to free himself from his bindings and access the streaming lap top. He broadcast his location. I'm setting the co-ordinates now." And sure enough, the ping aboard the ship noted them of a settled destination.

"So Tony's free?" Clint asked, not looking relaxed at all. Steve and Thor were the only ones who looked relieved at JARVIS' news; everyone else didn't so quickly succumb to hope.

"Alas, no," JARVIS said, sounding almost regretful. Steve and Thor sagged visibly in their seats before doubling their determination to free Tony. "Master Stark was caught in the process and was knocked unconscious by the vicious barbarian. Er, I meant, V."

At times, the group wondered if JARVIS was truly a computer program and not a British genius locked up in a computer room in Tony's house. This was one of those times.

"Alright, troop. Let's get going, Tony needs our help asap." Steve commanded, naturally taking up the leadership position. He turned to Natasha and asked, "How long until we reach him?"

"Approximately one hour… if we follow air regulations. But, being a SHIELD aircraft, I think they'll make an exception." Natasha took a moment to make a better estimate. "45 minutes, tops."

"Good." Steve nodded. _'Just wait, Tony. Be safe until we get there…'_

* * *

Tony slowly returned to consciousness, the world seeming determined to escape his grasp. _'What happened…?' _He asked himself. It took him a while to recall his capture and when he did, he groaned. But it was muffled by a gag around his mouth. A linen cloth was stuffed into his mouth and Tony fought the urge to gag. He felt dizzy and dirty, days of caked blood and sweat were practically seeping into his pores. _'One thousand showers… No, not enough. Two thousand. I need to take two thousand showers when I get home.' _He fought the urge but natural pessimism made him think, _'If I get home…'_

"Morning, Stark. I hope you don't mind the drop in hospitality." V sniggered. The guy had long past gotten on the iron man's nerves. His voice was shrill and smug, as if calling for several punches to the owner's face. "After your last little venture, I thought to take some more precautions."

V wasn't kidding. Tony was sprawled stomach first on the floor, every breath cracking his already screwed up ribs. _'At least they won't set incorrectly,' _Tony thought, trying to numb the pain using his mind. Other than the gag around his mouth, his arms were duct taped behind his back, and his legs were bound together. Tony cringed as he pictured the expensive Armani material covered in tape residue. Then he remembered it was already stained in blood. _'Well, there goes a thousand dollars. Oh well.' _He sighed dejectedly. There was nothing more he could do; he was resigned to his fate. If the Avengers came to save him, _great_, if not, Tony would rather a bullet through his head than deal with the situation for any longer.

"You look uncomfortable down there." V knelt beside Tony, patting the top of his head. "You should squirm more. It'd make things more fun." V cackled and Tony fought the urge to lash out. Tony wasn't going to give the bastard what he wanted. V frowned at the lack of reaction. "Fine, be that way." He looked up, as if he heard a noise. Tony didn't hear anything, but the pounding headache made everything difficult. "Did you hear that, Tony? I think your friends have arrived."

* * *

"You have arrived." JARVIS informed the Avengers. They had reached an abandoned building far from urban California and just short of the Nevada desert. There were a few other buildings in the area – skeletal factories abandoned in the failed industrial lot.

"Wow," Clint whistled through his teeth, "This place looks like _shit_."

"Agreed." Natasha nodded. She was uncomfortable. The last time she'd been in an abandoned lot, she had been ambushed.

Everyone else seemed to have the same idea on their mind, holding their weapons at the ready. Clint notched an arrow, Steve raised his shield, Thor gripped his hammer, and Bruce was halfway to being the big green jellybean. Natasha checked her guns and found them fully loaded. She mentally counted every knife, poisoned dart, spray, and mini-pistol hidden on her person and came to the satisfyingly full count of 24. Along with the two pistols in her hand, she held 26 weapons, all ready to use. Not to mention her years of hand-to-hand combat training. She was ready.

As they all expected, bullets were shot their way. Steve raised his shield, Clint and Natasha ducked down, Thor whirled his hammer and summoned the bullets away from him, and Bruce – all Hulk'd up and ready to go – jumped between the Avengers and the guns. The Hulk ran towards the bullets' source, finding a handful of shooters hiding within an abandoned building. Each of his footsteps kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt. Hulk sent his fists crashing down upon his enemies, letting out a ferocious roar.

With the distant shooters taken care of by Hulk, the remaining heroes found themselves surrounded by more henchmen.

Natasha was the first to act, taking down two men with a headshot each. Clint sent an arrow through a near man's knee, and then sent him sprawling by smacking the bow against his head. Thor weaved his hammer through a group of five men, hitting each one along the way. Steve took care of business in his classic manner, blocking with the shield then punching his opponent in the jaw.

All in all, it took the group of 6 less than 10 minutes to incapacitate roughly 50 men.

Hulk rejoined the group in a trot, carrying a terrified henchman like a rag doll in his hand. "He tell us where Tony is." Hulk said, thrusting the man at the group. "Tell." Hulk threatened and squeezed his grip.

"A-Alright, guy! Just calm down!" The man looked terrified. Anyone in his position would be. "You're friend's in the south building just over there." The man nodded at the building with his head. "Got it? He's in the basement. P-Please, just let me go."

Steve nodded at Hulk, and the Hulk dropped the man to the ground. "Stay." Hulk commanded and the man just nodded – curling himself into a ball.

"Let's go save Tony!" Steve jogged toward the building, and was closely followed by Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Hulk.

It was time for them to get their friend back.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to give you guys an update before the final showdown between V and the Avengers. **

**Also, somebody in the comments asked why the noose didn't snap Tony's neck. It's because he was leaning forward, so he was resting on his throat rather than his spine. Also, he wasn't off the ground, so most of his weight was still distributed to the floor. It was more of a chokehold than a hanging. **

**Remember, leave those reviews, it means the world to me :D **

**If you're lucky, I might update again today, and I'll definitely have the final showdown by tomorrow.**

**Finally, I need to ask whether you guys want an epilogue for this… Do you?**

**Thanks, lotsa love, **

**- Elide**


	9. Chapter 9

At the sound of determined footsteps in the corridor, V leapt to his feet and pulled Tony up by the collar. Tony rest on his knees and panted through the gag, pain ebbing off every part of his body. He felt the cool metal tip of a gun touch his temple. He was losing spirit and succumbing to the dark comfort his injuries brought him. V bent down and whispered into Tony's ear, "You're going to make your super friends listen to me or I will kill each and every one of you. Then I'll go out and find your friends, Colonel Rhodes and Miss Potts if I remember correctly. They'll face exactly what you did for the past while, and then I'll kill them. So be reasonable and make them surrender. Understand?"

Tony's closed his eyes. He wasn't ready for this. If he had to gamble his own life, everything would be fine. He wasn't afraid to die. Oftentimes, he was quite fond of the idea of dying. But now everyone he cared about was on the line. Tony knew how pointless it was to deal with a madman, and he knew that the Avengers could take care of themselves, but he couldn't willingly risk Pepper's and Rhodey's lives. Tony nodded, hoping that when the heroes came, they'd kill the son of a bitch holding a gun to his head.

"Good. Now I'm going to remove your gag, and you are going to reason with them. They'll listen to you. But don't do anything stupid, or someone is going to get a bullet to the brain." V nodded, condescendingly ruffled Tony's hair, and stood up.

Tony felt the gag loosen around his maw and he spit it out. He breathed heavily, enjoying the easily accessible oxygen. It had been hard breathing through his nose; the dried blood from the beatings had clogged the pathways.

"Tony… Tony?!" The distant chant of his name approach and Tony gulped. This was it. Either V died or the world did, because if Earth was left to the madman, it would surely end.

"Here they come." Tony didn't bother looking at V, he knew that there was a cocky smile plastered on the bastard's face. "Remember our deal, Tony. It's pointless to break it. We will win, we are VICTORY."

Tony vaguely realized that V had begun to refer to himself in plural, but before he could bring attention to it, he caught sight of Steve's blue Captain America cowl, emblazoned with a capital A. Then, the rest of the all-American body came into view, shortly followed by Thor, Natasha, and Clint. He realized that there had been a loud thumping at regular intervals and finally pieced together its source. The Hulk jumped into view, in all of his purple-short glory. The pants were a gift from Tony – they were extra stretchy.

"Hey guys," Tony managed to say. He had been awake for far too long and he just felt tired. There was no longer adrenaline pushing him to make the next move, he was almost ready to give everything up and leave it to his friends to avenge him. He was hungry, thirsty, beaten, and bruised.

"Tony, are you alright?" Steve asked. From what Tony saw of his face behind the mask, the American hero was weighed down by worry.

"Good as ever, Cap." Tony responded by reflex. He didn't like Steve worrying about him. Tony was well aware of the fact that he was the most vulnerable person on the team, that's why he was always looking for ways to get the suit on faster – so that Steve would stop treating him like a porcelain doll.

Clint snorted. "As if! You look like shit! But don't worry, we'll get you out and let you have a nice long shower… After we kill this asshat." To emphasize his point, Clint notched another arrow in his bow. From the look of the tip, it was an arrow Tony had designed. It was made so that after the arrow was shot, the tip would open up to reveal an active drill bit. Tony had made it for the use of getting through any tough alien exoskeleton… not to go through a human male's skull.

Steve stared defiantly at V while he gripped the edge of his shield, preparing to throw it.

"Indeed, friend Tony. We will take care of this, you may rest." Thor in war mode was frightening, and even though there was no wind in the room, his cape looked like it was billowing.

"Smash. You." Hulk pointed a threatening finger at V and a grotesque frown was made through yellow, stone-like teeth.

Natasha remained silent, only cocking her gun and aiming it at V's head. She look like a lion, ready to pounce.

V nudged Tony's temple with the gun, signalling the hostage to take care of matters.

"Wait! Guys!" Tony yelped, hating himself for every word he was about to say. "Don't kill him!"

The Avengers froze, simultaneously wondering if they had misheard.

"You heard me! Don't kill him!" Tony warned. _'Don't kill the lunatic who beat me to an inch of death!' _Tony mocked himself in his mind, understanding how crazy he sounded to the others.

"What the hell are you talking about, Tony?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying don't kill him!" Tony yelled. He pictured news of V's death reaching his partners, for he surely had some. A single man couldn't be the mastermind to a plan that felled Tony Stark.

"That is Stockholm syndrome talking, Tony. You're not yourself." Natasha noted calmly, never lowering her weapon.

"No. it's not. Don't touch him." Tony commanded. Pepper couldn't get hurt. She was his responsibility. He needed to save _her_.

"You should listen to your friend," V chided, "Unless you want his brains blown out." V shoved the gun into Tony's temple hard enough that Tony knew it was going to bruise. He winced and stared at his friends pleadingly.

Tony watched as the heroes hesitated, at least, for the most part.

Steve cared too much; he wanted to play things safe. He wasn't confident enough that he'd stop V before the bullet reached Tony.

Thor was similar to Steve, except her saw things as a king. Tony was a friend but also a subject. In Thor's mind, it was the king's duty to protect his subjects. Plus, Thor's experience with the greatest madman of all, Loki, let him know that V would – without a doubt – pull that trigger.

Hulk saw the fear in Tony's eyes, and perhaps a bit of Bruce inside calmed the beast. Hulk appeared internally restrained, a touch of intelligence in the raging mind. Without Bruce, the Hulk would've likely gone to smash V and Tony would've been killed.

Clint and Natasha seemed to be the least affected. This was expected due to their training. They were used to going out on missions with colleagues and watching them die. It came with the job description. Don't get attached; don't make friends because they _will _die. But Tony had sparked up quite the kinship with Clint. They both laughed at the same jokes, and they shared the same cynical humour. The two would spar from time to time, being the unenhanced males on the team. Both were more willing to fight each other over a super-soldier, a god, or the _Hulk_. Tony had learned a lot about fighting from Clint, and he could take Happy down in seconds, like how Natasha had in the ring back when she was 'Natalie Rushmore'.

But Natasha was different. He'd always been more distant from her than the others. Partially because she was a woman and she'd spend more time with Pepper than him. But mostly because he was absolutely terrified of her. Clint had informed him during a sparring match that Natasha was probably the best hand-to-hand combatant on the team – based upon technique alone. Clint was a fan of distance fighting, the bow and arrow his weapon of choice. He liked to keep far from his opponent. Natasha, on the other hand, was an up-close and personal type of gal. She'd let herself get captured by her targets, each opponent holding several bulky bodyguards. She'd take each one down, breaking their faces without breaking her high-heels. It didn't hurt that she looked great while doing it. Tony had a vague understanding that Natasha hadn't had the best of childhoods. She was left cold and furious. She had killed a man back when Tony was assembling his first few motors. Basically, she was a natural born killer – an assassin that any agency would love to have on their side.

So, when V shoved the gun to his head, Natasha was the least affected. Rather than recoil, she reacted. She moved with the swift and precise motion of a machine, calculating what the best move would be in the situation. She thought on her feet, she was used to being the person with the gun pointed to their head. She pulled the trigger.

"NO!" Tony yelled, hearing the gun ring. He flinched, expecting a similar shot but aimed at his head. But there was nothing. He felt a warm splatter and glanced up to find the most horrendous sight he'd seen in his life. A single hole penetrated the area above the center of V's lips, just below his nose. The scary part was the exit path of the bullet. Tony gagged and this time he couldn't fight it. He threw up. There wasn't enough in his stomach to become vomit, so he dry heaved, spitting out blood and saliva. He remained still on his knees, his head bowed to the ground beside a bloody puddle, his arms stiffly behind his back. _'It's over. V was bluffing.' _Tony thought but he doubted it. V had gone through with every threat he'd made before, why'd he change it up. Tony struggled to remain angry but the crippling anxiety grabbed him. He had nearly died again. It was basically Afghanistan and New York all over again. He took rapid breaths and repeated in his mind,_ 'It's over. It's over. It's over.' _Tony continued to chant, _'It's over.' _

Tony heard the muffled noises of the Avengers rushing towards him. He felt them pick him up gently and begin moving him back to the aircraft. His body grew weak and tired, but not in the way that one gives up on living. But rather the same way one relaxes into a mother's warm embrace. That was it. Tony was relieved. Relieved of the pressure of being leverage on the world. Relieved of the fear of the next punch or kick or broken bone. And soon enough, Tony was relieved of consciousness.

* * *

"Good job, Tasha." Clint nodded at the redhead. He felt ashamed. He should've taken the shot but instead he faltered. He was every bit the SHIELD agent she was, they both knew it. But he let his emotions put Tony in more danger. Who knew what would've happened in Natasha hadn't taken the shot. Lunatics were hard to predict. He might've shot Tony to see what they would do. The incident was a reminder to him that, as great as emotional ties were, they could be a burden. A dangerous burden.

* * *

Steve gasped as V's body hit the ground. It had taken him a moment to understand what happened. His gaze swerved to Natasha and found her with the smoking gun in hand. He realized that he couldn't have done the same thing in her position. He knew that it was probably necessary, but part of him wanted to negotiate. The situation had been clearly in their favour. 6 superheroes against one unprotected man. He felt a little angry at the injustice before he remembered the cruel sins of V. The man may not have deserved death without trail, but lady justice was often cruel and blind.

* * *

Thor's grip on his hammer tightened at the sound of the gun. For a moment, he feared that it was the same weapon aimed at Friend Tony's head. He didn't understand humans with their guns and bullets. It was an awfully unfair and inglorious form of combat. There was no test of skill or strength, it was who shot first. Then, V's body dropped and Thor sighed with relief. Tony was safe. He found Natasha was the one who shot and he felt a surge of both pride and jealousy. He was proud of Natasha representing the strength of her species. She had made the correct choice. She had saved friend Tony. It was a reminder of a fact that Thor often forgot, even in his homeland. Women were warriors just as much as men. The jealousy came from the fact that she was the one who succeeded, not him. It was petty envy, one that Thor didn't pay much mind to. It was fair; Natasha had made the choice so she deserved the glory of her victory. Thor reminded himself that he must think faster, weight the pros and cons more rapidly and find the best plan. It was something that Loki had excelled at, and it was a skill that the thunderer decided he must learn too.

* * *

The Hulk growled at the sound of the gun, ready to swipe at its source. Bruce mentally stopped the beast from striking Natasha down like a rag doll. Bruce had learned how to control the beast to a certain degree. The Hulk could always over power his decision, but Hulk also recognized that if he listened to Bruce, every once in a while, he'd be allowed to let loose in battle. The Hulk still remembered the fun times in New York – the free for all, unrestrained melee. Bruce reminded Hulk that if he killed Natasha, Hulk wouldn't be allowed to fight like that again. Instead, they would undergo the same painful loneliness as they were treated like rats to be experimented on in a top secret lab. Hulk smiled when V died, Hulk didn't like how V smelled. Bruce let out a sigh of relief. Tony was safe.

* * *

Natasha lowered the gun. She had shot V in the brain stem, separating his brain from his body. It was the same technique snipers used when dealing with hostage situations. V couldn't flinch and pull the trigger on Tony before he was dead. She left out a slow breath and watched as V's figure crumpled, the gun harmlessly dropping from his hand. She holstered her weapon and began to walk to Tony. He had seen the injury inflicted upon V and had thrown up. She didn't blame him. She was reminded how he was a civilian, untrained and not used to the sight of a man with his head shot out. He had certainly never been beside a man when it'd happened. He had yelled no when she shot. It startled her. Natasha had assumed that the words he'd been speaking before were forced by V's gun, but perhaps there was more to the story. Maybe she'd shot too soon… Natasha shook the thought away. She'd saved Tony's life. The was the objective and she had reached it.

* * *

The Avengers made their way to Tony. Thor and Steve worked together to lift him up, trying to be as gentle as possibly as neither of them knew the extent of his injuries. Tony had fallen unconscious and then group had momentarily feared that he had died. But the slow rise and fall of his chest proved them wrong. Nevertheless, he needed medical attention.

"Let's get him to the sick bay. We know first aid." Natasha commanded, referring to Clint and herself.

"Roger that." Steve nodded. He and Thor began to make their way to the corridor when the Hulk bounded in front of them.

"Hulk make sure hallway safe." Hulk told them and ran through the corridor. The Hulk's natural battle instinct trumped all of theirs, the green giant remembered things most would forget in the heat of a vengeful battle.

"Okay, Steve and Thor go next. Tasha and I will follow last and make sure no undesirables follow." Clint glanced at Natasha who nodded back.

Thor and Steve followed instructions and walked Tony out of the room and through the hall.

Finally, Clint and Natasha lifted their weapons and moved down the hall, their backs to the others and their aim prepared for any sneak attacks.

"I guess that's mission complete." Clint noted as they felt the outdoor sunlight glance upon their backs.

"I guess so… wait!" Natasha suddenly swerved the gun in her right hand to follow a movement she caught in her peripheral vision.

"What was that?" Clint asked curiously.

"I…" Natasha lowered the weapon, the movement was gone. "I saw two people just there." She pointed to where she had just aimed.

"I don't know. Maybe you're just imagining it. Your brains in overdrive right now." Clint reassured. They made their way to the quinjet. They saw Steve and Thor making their way inside with Tony in their arms.

"You know that I don't just imagine things, Clint. I saw two people over there." Natasha was certain. It wasn't good to doubt yourself in the field, especially if it meant lowering precautions.

"Okay. Then they were two henchmen trying to run away from the big band of scary superheroes. Anyway, I don't see anyone coming over here, Tasha. Take a breather. We're going to get back in the quinjet and we're going to wrap Tony up in enough gauze for him to be a mummy." Clint said, guiding Natasha onto the quinjet. She was like this whenever she's on the job. Paranoia was a good thing but it wasn't what they needed right now.

"Fine, but we'll talk about this later. I don't like leaving loose ends." Natasha boarded the jet and Clint followed closely behind.

"Job well done." JARVIS' voice greeted him. If an AI could sound overjoyed, it would sound quite like him.

"No problemo, Jarvis." Clint nodded.

"I thank you for bringing Tony back. Notably, alive. I was informed that you two would treat him to first aid. Since you will be too busy to pilot, would you like me to set course to SHIELD headquarters?" JARVIS asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Clint approved and suddenly, the engine roared to life and the jet began to fly.

* * *

Steve and Thor sat beside Tony as they waited for Clint and Natasha to take over. After the Hulk had run onto the ship, he had immediately gone to the depths of the ship to turn back into Bruce.

Tony had entered a fitful sleep and he struggled and twisted. Steve and Thor pitied him. He looked like a child amidst a nightmare.

Thor caught sight of Natasha and Clint and stood up. "Here approaches lady Natasha and friend Clint. Perhaps we should leave so the two may have the space to work on friend Tony." Thor said to Steve.

Steve nodded, running a hand through his hair. He had removed the Captain America mask the instant they had laid Tony down. Steve gave Tony a reassuring pat on the shoulder and said, "It's over. Tony. You're okay. It's over."

* * *

**A/N: I hope this chapter makes up for the super short one yesterday. But shabam, that's the final showdown. Sorry there weren't any explosions or such. I just needed to write some BAMF!Black Widow (Natasha needs more love). As for the shot she made, I remember reading that at some point. I don't know if I remembered it correctly, but it seems plausible enough.**

**And have no fear, there will be an epilogue! This fic isn't done!**

**And ****FuyuSarah**** kind of inspired me with the idea to turn this into a series. Would you guys be interested in that? Tell me in a review. If I do write the series, it'll explain what the heck V was up to… so… **_**closure?**_

**Anyway… YAY! Tony is safe!**

**Love ya,**

**Elide**


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